SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR MEASURING THE QUALITY OF DOCUMENT SETS

• US 20090006387A1
• Filed: 06/25/2008
• Published: 01/01/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 06/26/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Oracle OTC Subsidiary LLC (Oracle Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Oracle OTC Subsidiary LLC (Oracle Corporation)
• Inventors: Sheu, Herng Albert, Tunkelang, Daniel, Zelevinsky, Vladimir, Wang, Joyce Jeanpin
• Granted Patent: US 8,832,140 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/245 Query processing
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/3331 Query processing

Abstract

Systems and methods are described that calculate the interestingness of a set of one or more records in a database, either absolutely (i.e., compared to an overall collection of records) or relative to some other set of records. In one embodiment, the measure is a relative entropy value that has been normalized. Various applications of the measure are described in the context of an information retrieval system. These applications include, for example, guiding query interpretation, guiding view selection and summarization, intelligent ranges, event detection, concept triggers and interpreting user actions, hierarchy discovery, and adaptive data mining.

Claims

1. A method for optimizing results returned from interaction with a collection of information, the method comprising the acts of:

establishing criteria associated with at least one operation on a collection of information, wherein the criteria is based, at least in part, on a measurement of the distinctiveness of a set of results;

determining the set of results from interaction with a collection of information;

modifying the set of results according to the at least one operation in response to a determination that the set of results matches the criteria; and

outputting a modified result.

2. The method according to claim 1, further comprising an act of establishing a rule that comprises the criteria and the at least one operation.

3. The method according to claim 2, further comprising an act of establishing additional criteria.

4. The method according to claim 2, further comprising an act of establishing additional operations.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein the interaction with the collection of information comprises at least one of a query against the collection of information, a search applied to the collection of information, a search entered in a text box, a filtering operation applied to the collection of information, navigation within the collection of information, access to the collection of information, access to the collection of information through a browser, and a data mining operation.

6. The method according to claim 1, further comprising an act of determining a measurement of distinctiveness for the set of results based on a statistical distribution of at least one identifying characteristic within the set of results.

7. The method according to claim 1, further comprising an act of determining a measurement of distinctiveness based on a statistical distribution of at least one identifying characteristic within the set of results and a statistical distribution of at least one identifying characteristic within another set.

8. The method according to claim 7, further comprising an act of generating the another set from the collection of information.

9. The method according to claim 6, further comprising an act of generating a linear combination of the statistical distributions for the set of results and the another set, and wherein the measurement of distinctiveness is further based on the linear combination.

10. The method according to claim 1, wherein the act of establishing criteria comprises establishing at least one of a minimum value for the measurement of distinctiveness of the set results, a maximum value for the measurement of distinctiveness, and a range of values for the measurement of distinctiveness.

11. The method according to claim 1, wherein the act of modifying the set of results further comprises an act of incorporating at least one additional element from the collection of information.

12. The method according to claim 1, wherein the act of modifying the set of results further comprises an act of performing at least one additional operation.

13. The method according to claim 1, wherein the act of modifying the set of results includes at least one of grouping content within the modified set, sorting content within the modified set, and filtering content within the modified set.

14. The method according to claim 1, wherein the act of modifying the set of results includes an act of generating a suggested query.

15. The method according to claim 14, wherein the act of outputting the modified result includes outputting the suggested query.

16. The method according to claim 1, further comprising an act of defining the at least one operation to identify desired content within the collection of information.

17. The method according to claim 1, further comprising an act of defining the at least one operation to replace at least one element of the interaction with the collection of information with at least one predefined element.

18. The method according to claim 1, further comprising an act of normalizing a measurement of distinctiveness.

19. The method according to claim 1, further comprising the acts of:

modifying a size of at least one set; and

determining a measurement of distinctiveness from the at least one modified set.

20. The method according to claim 1, further comprising an act of determining a measurement of distinctiveness for at least one set, wherein the measurement of distinctiveness is determined relative to a baseline measure.

21. The method according to claim 1, further comprising an act of determining a measurement of distinctiveness for at least one set, wherein the measurement of distinctiveness is determined relative to the collection of information.

22. The method according to claim 1, further comprising an act of tracking a state associated with the interaction with the collection of information.

23. The method according to claim 22, wherein the modification of the set of results includes modification of the state associated with the interaction with the collection of information.

24. The method according to claim 1, further comprising an act of establishing criteria associated with a state associated with the interaction with the collection of information.

25. A method for information processing, comprising:

generating a salience measure that measures a quality of a set of documents based on their ambiguity relative to similarly sized sets of documents; and

using the distinctiveness value to take a given action in an information retrieval system.

26. The method as described in claim 25, wherein the salience measure is a normalized clarity value.

27. The method as described in claim 26 wherein, for the set of documents S, the normalized clarity value is the number of standard deviations by which the clarity of S exceeds to expected value of the clarity of a set of documents of the same size as S.

28. A computer-readable medium having computer-readable instructions stored thereon that define instructions that, as a result of being executed by a computer, instruct the computer to perform a method for optimizing results returned from interaction with a collection of information, the method comprising:

establishing criteria associated with at least one operation on a collection of information, wherein the criteria is based, at least in part, on a measurement of the distinctiveness of a set of results;

determining the set of results from interaction with a collection of information;

modifying the set of results according to the at least one operation in response to a determination that the set of results matches the criteria; and

outputting a modified result.

29. A system for optimizing results returned from interaction with a collection of information, the system comprising:

a rules engine adapted to establish criteria associated with at least one operation on a collection of information, wherein execution of the operation is based on a measurement of the distinctiveness of the set of results;

a measurement engine adapted to measure the distinctiveness of a set of results;

a retrieval engine adapted to return a set of results from a collection of information in response to interaction with the collection of information;

a modification engine adapted to modify the set of results according to the at least one operation in response to a determination that the set of results matches the established criteria; and

a output engine adapted to output the modified result.

30. The system according to claim 29, wherein the rules engine is further adapted to establish a rule that comprises the criteria and the at least one operation.

31. The system according to claim 30, wherein the rules engine is further adapted to establish additional criteria.

32. The system according to claim 30, wherein the rules engine is further adapted to establish additional operations.

33. The system according to claim 29, further comprising an input engine adapted to manage interaction with the collection of information, wherein interaction comprises at least one of a query against the collection of information, a search applied to the collection of information, a search entered in a text box, a filtering operation applied to the collection of information, navigation within the collection of information, access to the collection of information, access to the collection of information through a browser, and a data mining operation.

34. The system according to claim 29, further comprising an act of determining a measurement of distinctiveness for the set of results based on a statistical distribution of at least one identifying characteristic within the set of results.

35. The system according to claim 29, wherein the measurement engine is further adapted to determine a measurement of distinctiveness based on a statistical distribution of at least one identifying characteristic within the set of results and a statistical distribution of at least one identifying characteristic within another set.

36. The system according to claim 35, further comprising a generation engine adapted to generate the another set from the collection of information.

37. The system according to claim 34, wherein the measurement engine is further adapted to generate a linear combination of the statistical distributions for the set of results and the another set, and wherein the measurement of distinctiveness is further based on the linear combination.

38. The system according to claim 29, wherein the rules engine is further adapted to establish at least one of a minimum value for the measurement of distinctiveness of the set results, a maximum value for the measurement of distinctiveness, and a range of values for the measurement of distinctiveness.

39. The system according to claim 29, wherein the modification engine is further adapted to incorporate at least one additional element from the collection of information.

40. The system according to claim 29, wherein the modification engine is further adapted to perform at least one additional operation.

41. The system according to claim 29, wherein the modification engine is further adapted to include at least one of grouping content within the modified set, sorting content within the modified set, and filtering content within the modified set.

42. The system according to claim 29, wherein the modification engine is further adapted to generate a suggested query.

43. The system according to claim 42, wherein the output engine is further adapted to output the suggested query.

44. The system according to claim 29, wherein the rules engine is further adapted to define the at least one operation to identify desired content within the collection of information.

45. The system according to claim 29, wherein the rules engine is further adapted to define the at least one operation to replace at least one element of the interaction with the collection of information with at least one predefined element.

46. The system according to claim 29, further comprising a normalization engine adapted to normalize a measurement of distinctiveness.

47. The system according to claim 29, further comprising a sizing engine adapted to modifying a size of at least one set, and wherein the measurement engine is further adapted to determine a measurement of distinctiveness from the at least one modified set.

48. The system according to claim 29, wherein the measurement engine is further adapted to determine a measurement of distinctiveness for at least one set relative to a baseline measure.

49. The system according to claim 29, wherein the measurement engine is further adapted to determine the measurement of distinctiveness relative to the collection of information.

50. The system according to claim 29, further comprising a tracking engine adapted to track a state associated with the interaction with the collection of information.

51. The system according to claim 50, wherein the modification engine is further adapted to modify the state associated with the interaction with the collection of information.

52. The system according to claim 29, wherein the rules engine is further adapted to establish criteria associated with a state associated with the interaction with the collection of information.